Florida Gators narrowly beat Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn — At his Monday press conference Jim McElwain openly wondered how his football team, coming off of a disappointing loss to Tennessee, would respond on the road. How would his team respond to its first loss, a noon kickoff, a second week on the road?

Florida gave him an answer, probably not one he wanted.

The Gators showed up flat. There wasn’t the “we got embarrassed and we’re going to take it out on the next team we face” mentality. Florida’s offense started the game with back-to-back three-and-outs and four straight punts.

“I don’t want to say it’s a different mindset but it is,” junior cornerback Jalen Tabor said of the mindset Saturday. “Look at the teams we play. We play Kentucky, knew they was gonna give us a game and we came out firing, boom. Played Tennessee, knew they were gonna give us a game, came out fine, boom. I don’t wanna say Vandy got to us, but…”

Earlier in the interview Tabor said he thought beating Vanderbilt was a good win, a conference win.

“I bet if this was Alabama we just played and we won like that it would have been a great win. It would have been, ‘oh it was sloppy but it was great.’ Since it was Vandy it’s a sloppy win.”

The problem with that is Florida didn’t come out and play like Vanderbilt wasn’t just Vandy and it showed with Vanderbilt, the 13th ranked offense in the SEC out-gaining the Gators 265 to 236. Vanderbilt’s defense was supposed to be its strength coming into the season. Instead they came into the game giving up more than 450 yards a game and 26 points.

It started up front, with the offensive line getting pushed around, again, unable to keep a clean pocket or provide running lanes for their backs.

“Look, I know those guys are working hard and they feel as bad as anybody, so we’ve got to play with better pad level and we’ve got to get off the ball with a sense of urgency and quit waiting for somebody else to hit you in the mouth,” McElwain said. “It’s that simple. I’m sick of seeing it.”

So are the fans.

The Gators walked into the locker room with a 10-3 lead. They had just one offensive drive last over three minutes and 125 yards. They had punted on nine of their previous 14 drives, dating back to the previous week. Florida’s offense is awful and has took another step backwards. It’s clear why Austin Appleby was the backup quarterback and why he’ll resume that role as soon as Luke Del Rio’s sprained left MCL is healthy.

Florida’s second half was equally listless. Florida punted on both of its possessions in the third quarter amassing a whopping 27 yards on 10 plays. An Eddy Pineiro 26-yard field goal were the only points in the second half. Appleby fumbled a snap on a quarterback sneak as the Gators tried to extend a 13-6 lead late in the fourth.

“I don’t know how you fumble the ball on a quarterback sneak at the end of the game,” McElwain said. “It happened.”

The Gators will take a win however it comes.

They’ll likely show up enthused and ready to go next week when LSU is on the other sideline but the team that shows up and plays to the level of its opponent won’t keep winning games like this.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

1 COMMENT

  1. Last week a eplayer’s comment was they came out flat after the half with the big lead. This week Davis says the Gators were flat because it was just Vanderbilt. The coaches need to remind the players that winning programs play their best regardless of the opponent or the score. The Gators cannot afford these lapses of effort or motivation if they hope to be in the SEC East race.